The Scoop Blog

‘Progress’ wears a mourning coat for one family on Ross Avenue

Woodard Paint & Body Shop, the venerable car repair shop at 3515 Ross Avenue, served its last customer today when former Texas lawmaker and noted East Dallas politico Harryette Ehrhardt brought her 2006 Lincoln Town Car into the shop for repairs.

“Harryette is a longtime customer and I just couldn’t say ‘no’ to her,” said Allen Woodard, who followed his grandfather and father into the family business.

Woodard’s is the latest victim of the real estate community’s drive to eradicate used car lots and other automotive businesses on Ross and replace them with upscale apartments, shops and restaurants. The Woodard property, now in the hands of a new owner, will become an apartment building.

The beginning of the end arrived in 2005 when the city council adopted a plan to redevelop the stretch of Ross Avenue east of Central Expressway into a gateway to the downtown arts district.

Woodard’s shop was zoned out of business. It became a “nonconforming use” of the property under the new program. In effect, it amounted to a de facto condemnation proceeding, although lawyers would quibble about the differences between a city’s power of eminent domain and its power to enact zoning ordinances.

The result is the same. Woodard’s is gone.

In a few years, hardly anyone will remember the business that inhabited 3515 Ross, provided jobs for dozens of technicians and mechanics and dependable repairs for thousands of customers. It will all be a distant memory.

J.O. Woodard started his used car and repair shop at a location on Hall Street in 1946. J.O. became a big wheel in the car business, ascending to president of the Texas Independent Automobile Dealers Association in 1962.

J.O. and his son, John O. Woodard Jr., remained there until 1976 when home builder Fox & Jacobs began its inner-city Bryan Place residential development.

The Woodard’s moved their business to Ross Avenue when that stretch of gray asphalt was at its wildest and woolliest. All-night cafes, bars and clubs interspersed with used car lots lined the street. “We tote the note” and “No credit. No problem” were common messages on the hand-painted signs.

An old saying instructs that “Change is Essential to Progress.” But progress is bringing uncertainty to Allen Woodard, who, at age 57, is now presiding over the demise of the family business.

“I’m gonna take some time off,” he said. “And then, who knows? I’ve never needed a resume. But I might need one now. I still want to work.”

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